An Elizabethton woman has died from injuries she suffered in a fire at her apartment on Wednesday that trapped her and her young daughter inside.
Elizabethton Fire Marshal Andy Hardin confirmed Thursday afternoon that 20-year-old Dana Keeling had died at the hospital. Keeling’s 2-year-old daughter is in critical condition in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Johnson City Medical Center, Hardin said.
According to police, around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Keeling called 911 and reported that her apartment was on fire and she and daughter were trapped upstairs. Keeling lived at 916 Pine Ridge Circle, Apt. C, in the Rolling Hills community.
While 911 dispatchers were on the line they lost contact with Keeling. When firefighters arrived on the scene they found both Keeling and her daughter unconsious in the upstairs of the two-story apartment.
Firefighters located the child and handed her out of the second story window to the waiting arms of a Elizabethton Police Chief Jason Shaw, who carried her down the ladder and gave her to medics with the Carter County Rescue Squad. A few minutes later, firefighters emerged from the ground floor of the apartment carrying Keeling and she was turned over to medics.
On Wednesday evening, the fire was being investigated by the Elizabethton Fire Department along with assistance from the Elizabethton Police Department. Shaw said on Wednesday that the State Fire Marshal’s office had been called in to assist with the investigation.
“The preliminary investigation on the Pine Ridge Circle fire has determined the origin of the fire was at the couch that was located in the downstairs front room of the apartment,” Hardin said on Thursday afternoon. “The cause of the fire appears to be accidental from an unattended candle.”
“The two victims were found by firefighters in the upstairs bedroom and their injuries appear to have been sustained from the smoke from the fire,” he added.
The investigation into the fire is still ongoing at this time, Hardin said.